"
It is possible that doom by dint of sword may mean, to be executed by
dint of sword; that is, on the son. The _doom_ in the Scotch court, in
the _Heart of Mid Lothian_, is not the verdict, but the punishment.
Immediately before, we have this passage, also described as
unintelligible:--
"_King._ Did not your selves, in presence, see the bondes sealde
and assignde?
"_Lo._ What tho my lord, the _vardits own_, the titles doth resign.
"_King._ The bond is broke, and I will sue the fine."
I see no emendation for this but the _vardits own_ to mean, "the party
who has the verdict in his favour," and the speech to be a question. The
King tries to persuade himself that there is, _ipso facto_, no room for
forgiveness. Lovel answers, upon the principle of the rule of law, "Qui
vis potest renunciare juri pro se introducto."
C.B.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_Merry-Lwyd._--My attention has been called to an inquiry in No. 11. p.
173., as to the origin and etymology of the Merry-Lwyd, still kept up in
Wales.
I believe that all these mummings may be traced to the disguisings which
formed so popular an amusement in the Middle Ages, and that the name
applied in Wales to this remnant of our ancient pastimes is nothing more
than a compound of our English adjective "merry" and a corruption of the
Latin word "Ludi," which these masquings were formerly termed.
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